PSA

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It’s that time of year again.

2016.06.29

Information about Christmas. Man in Santa hat leaning against a large striped (red and yellow) "i" (of the information sign variety).1If my math is correct, this past Saturday morning, we passed the tipping point between “days since last (2015) Christmas” and “days until this coming (2016) Christmas.”

Please don’t kill the messenger.

I’m not actually bringing this up to be cruel and annoying. I make this announcement because many of you are crafty people who give hand-made gifts for the holidays. For me, the mid-point of the year is my semi-official starting line. It’s when I really become aware of the holiday, and start putting serious thought into when I’ll need to start (and complete!) which projects in order to have everything ready in time for the appropriate gift-giving events. (As much as I strive to emulate Jordan in all things, I cannot actually knit a sweater in one night.2)

Craftiness, PSA

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PSA: DC Area: Cheat sheet for the Studio Ghibli festival at Landmark Theatres (DC and Bethesda)!

2016.02.29

TL;DR:

Landmark E Street and Bethesda Row will be showing a bunch of Studio Ghibli films throughout March and April. Here’s a cheat sheet you can use to help plan your viewing schedule.

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PSA

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PSA: {Knitting geeks} ∩ {Gardening geeks}

2016.01.18

I couldn’t really be bothered to make an actual Venn Diagram, so set notation will have to suffice.

Anyway, I know that I have friends who knit. I know that I have friends who garden. I do not currently know how much overlap actually exists between these two sets of friends, but I figure there’s gotta be some, right?

For those (currently theoretical) friends who both knit and garden1, KnitPicks has a pattern that might be of interest to you. Go! Go get cozies for your plants!

Craftiness, PSA, Shopping

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PSA: For my knitting (and crocheting) peeps: Interweave / Knitting Daily $5 sale.

2015.12.08

Really, the subject just about says it all, but in case you require more detail: Interweave Knits / Knitting Daily is having a “5-Star1 Products2 for $5″ sale. At the time of this writing, there are 32 items on sale for $5.

Free Tip #1

Be sure to check what format you’re actually getting things in! The sale includes eBooks; printed books (paperback and hardcover); magazines; VHS (!) and DVD content, downloadable video content, and I’m sure I’ve missed some other way things are being distributed. I adore the digital editions, but some people hate them. Some features I find alluring for the digital editions include, “not having to find a place to store another physical thing,” “not tripping on another physical thing for which I did not find a storage space,” “I can carry ALL THE BOOKS on my laptop,” and “not having to pay for shipping.” But, whatever floats your boat.

Free Tip #2

Before buying something about which you’re not certain, I recommend double-checking the item’s reviews elsewhere online (I used Amazon, but see above, re: your boat). In addition to some more reviews, you might be able to find additional (or even any, depending on the item) images of what’s inside the covers.

Footnotes

Craftiness, PSA, Shopping

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PSA: glibc buffer overflow (nss_hostname_digits_dots)

2015.01.27

[covert-ops] bullhorn

Via https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2015-0235.

A heap-based buffer overflow was found in glibc’s __nss_hostname_digits_dots() function, which is used by the gethostbyname() and gethostbyname2() glibc function calls. A remote attacker able to make an application call either of these functions could use this flaw to execute arbitrary code with the permissions of the user running the application.

Update ALL THE THINGS! Again. Once, you know, a patch is available.

Annoyances, PSA, Technology

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[PSA] Doctor Who (Audiobook) Humble Bundle

2015.01.01

[covert-ops] bullhorn

I assume that most of the people who would be interested in this are already aware of it, but just in case someone’s missed it, I thought I’d point out that there’s currently a Doctor Who Audiobook Humble Bundle going on. As of this writing, there’s about 5 and a half days left on the offer. It’s a pay-what-you-want bundle, though there are price points to unlock some content. (Currently $15 or more to get everything in the bundle.) (more…)

Media, PSA, Shopping

PSA: Beware Audible mobile app version 2.2 on iOS!

2014.09.18

20140918-audibleIf you use an iPhone, you probably found that you had an unusually large number of app updates available to you yesterday. This is because a new version of Apple’s iOS was released, and developers released new iOS 8-compatible versions of their apps.

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Annoyances, Books, PSA, Technology

PSA: Don’t update to iCloud Drive just yet.

2014.09.16

For those of you who sync your iOS devices, this article has a warning:

If you’re upgrading to iOS 8 on Wednesday, you must resist the urge to upgrade to iCloud Drive if you want to continue to sync your phone to your Mac. Why? Well, iCloud Drive only works with iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. And you all know which OS we’re still waiting on.

Until Yosemite drops, upgrading to iCloud Drive will keep you from syncing devices running iOS 8 and devices running OS X Mavericks. Good news: After you install iOS 8, Apple will ask you if you want to upgrade to iCloud Drive. Tap the button that says “Not Now.” Easy enough, right?

It goes on to use the phrase “file syncing nightmare.” Because that’s what we all need, right?

PSA, Technology

PSA: All ORA eBooks & Video Training 50% through 2014.09.09

2014.08.29

This will probably be of interest to many of you:

As the cute little critter below says, there’s a sale going on in O’Reilly land, so if there’s an eBook that you’ve been putting off getting (like maybe that organization book that I posted about a few days ago), now might be the time. Be sure to use discount code B2S4 at checkout, though clicking on the image should do that automatically. (Note: This discount does not apply to printed materials or print + eBook bundles.)

20140829-ora_sale

So tell me, what are you going to buy? (No. Really. I wanna know.)

Media, PSA, Shopping

PSA: Your own personal Apple support profile.

2014.08.28

Apple_logo_largeIn case you weren’t aware of it, Apple maintains a dashboard for you, tracking all of the devices you have associated with your Apple ID, and providing you with information about them.

For instance, for ともだち (tomodachi), my trusty 13″ MacBook Pro, I can see my model number (13-inch Late 2011) and serial number right from the front page. By clicking through, I can also my built-in warranty and Apple Care coverage details, with links to contact Apple support. This is also true of repair coverage, and the ability to set up a repair online. There are even tabs to show me any service or repair cases the product has had. And finally, there’s a tab with a list of FAQs that pertain to the machine in question.

I was kind of surprised to find my very first (5G!) iPod on there. Since I no longer have this device, I took the opportunity to disassociate it from my account. (Oh yeah, the site lets you associate and disassociate items from your Apple ID.)

It’s not a ground-breaking site, but I know a bunch of you have Apple devices (ranging from those of you with an iPhone, to those have consumed the entire flavor spectrum of Cupertino Kool-Aid), so I thought you might find it useful.

 

Documentation, PSA, Technology